# What (Public) Events Sadden You Althought They Didn't Directly Affect You? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914 "2010-07-16T14:07:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/21 "2010-07-16T22:41:43Z")
Michael Jackson’s death. I didn’ t pay much attention to him after he left the Jackson 5 and started getting weirder and weirder (morphing from the very handsome boy/young man he was at one time), including doing things to himself that seemed to indicate he didn’t have a very positive or secure self-image. I believe his childhood, his always being the spotlight, and his need to re-live boyhood through inappropriate levels of friendship with young boys just didn’t indicate a very well-adjusted or happy life and, to the extent any of us are well-adjusted or happy, I wish he’d had that opportunity. This is just my feeling. For all I know, he was truly satisfied and content with who he was. * * * Also, 9-11. I was in/at One Battery Park Plaza (a few blocks away) when both planes struck the WTC and panicked and ran around like crazy with everybody else as the buildings started coming down and had to walk across Brooklyn Bridge covered in ash to get home. My sadness isn’t about me at all but the people who, like others have said, who were on those planes or in those buildings. I still have a hard time even looking at pictures of them, thinking about what they must have thinking and felt as they learned they were going to die. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/22 "2010-07-17T00:07:53Z")
> [@Simmerdown](#): > > Any tragedies or wrongdoings involving children. Me too. Kids are so innocent and my heart goes out to them. The “Save The Children” commercials make me sad. I am so blessed to have never known a day of hunger or homelessness or poverty. Poor little pookers. oops, Events, Ummm… Sharia Law being enbraced in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/23 "2010-07-17T00:19:17Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > oops, Events, Ummm… Sharia Law being enbraced in the US. You make this statement a lot. Are you EVER going to back it up with, you know, facts and cites and such, or are you just going to keep dropping it into unrelated threads like a turd in a crystal punchbowl? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/24 "2010-07-17T00:37:58Z")
9/11. Pearl Harbor (made more real from having lived in Hawaii). The tsunami. The reentry burnup of that space shuttle some years back, plus the Challenger disaster. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/25 "2010-07-17T01:01:59Z")
The passing of Prop 8 in California. I’m not gay and I don’t live in California, but the thought of a bunch of people from the state voting to bully a bunch of other people out of rights makes me incredibly sad. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/26 "2010-07-17T01:56:23Z")
Assassination of JFK, I was very sad, even though quite young. When I was a tad, JFK shook my hand. Sam, you remember Pearl Harbor? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/27 "2010-07-17T02:17:15Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > (4) The elimination of the Vancouver Canucks from Stanley Cup contention (this is one I’m doomed to repeat every year). LOL. Or should I say LOUUU? Forget the Olympics, the man is a sieve (IMHO). Is it terrible that I feel sadder for the people on the planes and what the aftermath is/has been for civil aviation than I do for the victims inside the towers on 9/11? There’s not much paranoia involving office buildings, I guess. Then again, I want to work in civil aviation safety, so there’s a bias there. The shootings at Dawson College. Those freaked me out (though I was indirectly affected as one of the victims worked for my father). I’ll probably think of more 6 minutes after I post this! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/28 "2010-07-17T02:24:06Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > oops, Events, Ummm… Sharia Law being enbraced in the US. Moderator Note(not a warning) **Perciful**. Give it a rest. This isn’t the Pit or a Great Debate. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/29 "2010-07-17T02:37:49Z")
[quote=“Kolga, post:23, topic:546914”] You make this statement a lot. Are you EVER going to back it up with, you know, facts and cites and such, or are you just going to keep dropping it into unrelated threads **like a turd in a crystal punchbowl?** /QUOTE] You know, moderators have the automatic right to appropriate wonderful similes like this from the TM. OK, not really. **Moderator note** : **Perciful** , if you are going mention the supposed introduction of Sharia law in the United States, you had better give some particulars. It’s a loaded term, since it can sometimes mean only a mutually agreeable way of negotiating contracts between businesspeople. And it can also be the horrific things we hear about overseas. So don’t just drop it like a little bomb in a golden…damn, I wish I had **Kolga’s** gift for trenchant imagery! And don’t go hijacking this thread either. If you want start an honest discussion, open a thread in the appropriate forum. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/30 "2010-07-17T02:47:10Z")
> [@](#): > > You know, moderators have the automatic right to appropriate wonderful similes like this from the TM. > > OK, not really. Feel free 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/31 "2010-07-17T03:06:14Z")
The release of the three Star Wars prequels definitely left a knife in my heart. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/32 "2010-07-17T03:15:04Z")
> [@Simmerdown](#): > > Any tragedies or wrongdoings involving children. Me too. I was sort of numb on 9/11 because we couldn’t talk about it at work - I worked with kids 3-6 at the time - and didn’t react until the next morning. I sobbed when they scrolled though the list of victims and hit on anyone my age, which was then early 20s, or the kids. Reading about what happen still makes me cry. **ZipperJJ** , have you seen the prop 8 video “[Please Don’t Divorce Us](http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/content/dontdivorce)”? It rips your heart out to see people who have been affected by it. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/33 "2010-07-17T04:47:37Z")
Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. On a local scale, a few years ago two teenagers by happenstance came across the remains of a baby abandoned in the woods. It was not determined whether the baby was stillborn or not. As the dad of two youngsters, that one really shook me. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/34 "2010-07-17T04:58:41Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > Princess Diana’s death. Yes! Normally I don’t pay a lot of attention to celebrity goings on, but this struck me with a huge feeling of “this wasn’t supposed to happen”. 9/11. Virginia Tech, OK City, Lockerbee crash, and so on. Anything like this really kills me. ---
**Author:** ![dukette71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@dukette71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukette71)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/35 "2010-07-17T05:00:09Z")
Besides 9/11, the last thing that completely stunned me was that guy that shot people in McDonalds in San Ysirdo (sp?) sometime in the early 80’s. I was only 12, it wrecked me for days. Ohh- that Pan Am bombing also did it. I couldn’t get the picture of the cabin on the ground out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/36 "2010-07-17T06:44:08Z")
The film “Dear Zachary.” There’s a thread about it in CS. My heart has never been so ripped apart by that sad (and infuriating) story. I can’t help crying whenever I think about it. And the worst part: it was totally preventable. And I’ll never forget the look on my partner’s face when he figured out what was going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/37 "2010-07-17T08:06:51Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’m confused - your thread title has ‘Sadden’ in the present tense. What public events continue to sadden me even though they happened a while ago? Or just what saddened me at the time? Sadden / saddened- it doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/38 "2010-07-18T03:18:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Assassination of JFK, I was very sad, even though quite young. When I was a tad, JFK shook my hand. > > Sam, you remember Pearl Harbor? No, I’m not quite that old. Even though I don’t personally remember it, I visited the Arizona Memorial a couple of times when I lived in Honolulu, and it can’t help but bring a lump to the throat. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/39 "2010-07-18T13:53:53Z")
I don’t think any story hit me as hard as[this from a year or so ago](http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2009/06/03/couple-s-beachy-head-suicide-after-paraplegic-son-died-of-meningitis-86908-21410827/). It was the little details, the toys in the rucksack. It absolute devastated me and I blubbed at my desk as I read it. Probably due to me having children of that age. 9-11 as well, my wife and I were on holiday in Majorca when it happened and had nothing to do except watch the drama unfold. Dreadful. Princess Di? couldn’t give a shit. My circle of friends and relatives didn’t care either and none of us could understand the mawkish outpouring of grief. For a week or two I felt that the rest of the UK had been kidnapped and replaced with idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914/40 "2010-07-18T15:50:40Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Princess Di? couldn’t give a shit. My circle of friends and relatives didn’t care either and none of us could understand the mawkish outpouring of grief. For a week or two I felt that the rest of the UK had been kidnapped and replaced with idiots. I was only twelve or so at the time. My brother was 10. Neither of us had even _heard_ of Princess Diana before her death. We woke up on that morning and my Dad, watching TV, turned and said “Boys, Princess Di is dead!” My brother and I looked at each other blankly and he shrugs and goes “Good.” That’s when Dad slapped him to hell and back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-public-events-sadden-you-althought-they-didnt-directly-affect-you/546914.md?page=3)